Ok, today’s recipe is for a chicken and rice dish that has been in my family for generations. My grandmother, my mom’s mom, used to make this for us all the time. She would invite our family over for Sunday dinner and we would joke “ what do you think she gonna make ?” Now don’t get me wrong, she made lots of good food and it wasn’t always the same. I remember her scrambled eggs for breakfast were terrific. But the chicken and rice dish was dominant and it was really good. I make it occasionally now and it brings back memories.  My grandmother used chicken sections, as did my mother, you know,  breast, drumsticks wings… with the bones.. I have made it like that and using boneless, now boneless cooks quicker and was easier to eat, but it has more of a tendency to dry out easier from over cooking. The whole piece with the bones, stay more moist nad give the dish more flavor due to the skin still on the chicken, you know the good stuff, that fat… after all that’s where the flavor is for sure.. .what do you think chicken soup gets its flavor from… carrots and potatoes wont make chicken soup taste chicken now will they .. the flavor comes from the fat. Please tell me that you don’t skin your chicken before making soup … I mean come on…hey I don’t have a problem if you don’t eat the skin, but you need to cook with it on the bird. I mean what happen the chicken  skin police show up at your house one time or something and tell you you cant do it ?? I didn’t think so .. please leave the skin on when you make soup, leave it on when you grill. The skin is the best part when your grilling, it has the little char on it, it is where the crunch comes from.. dontget me wrong, I mean boneless has it place in a lot of dishes and when cooked properly it is great. But “the skin is in”  when it comes to soup and dishes like this one.. and speaking of dishes like this one.. back to the recipe. This is really easy. First you need to figure how many people you are cooking for so you know how much rice you are making. Normally for this dish I cook 2 cups of rice. So\\

1 whole large chicken sectioned into wings, drums thighs… or use your favorite sections

2 cups rice ( I like uncle bens)

      I use white rice but my guess is that a nice wild rice would be just as good.

4 cup of water or chicken broth

2 TBL spoon olive oil

½ med onion diced

1 clove garlic chopped

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of cream of celery soup

4 pks of onion soup mix, (Lipton, Knorr whatever you have)

Frozen Peas, (Birds Eye is my favorite) ß---- there s my veggie …

In a large sauce pan, sauté  the onion and garli in the 1 TBL spoon olive oil

After the onion is translucent, add the water  or broth and bring boil

Slow stir in rice and return to a boil

Cover and reduce to simmer.

Now the hard part

DON’T TOUCH THE PAN

Leave it alone for 20 mins

I am serious .. no peaking. Leave it alone, what did it ever do to you.

Ok, while the rice is cooking

Cut up your chicken if you bought whole, preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Pour the last TBL spoon of oil into your oven pan. 

Have a sip of you beverage of choice,,, I  usally like wine while I cook, but a cold beer isn’t a stranger to my pallet .. after 2o mins is up, turn off the burner and slide the pan over… DON’T OPEN IT YET…

Wait about 3-5 mins .. Patience

Now take the cover off and pour the rice into your oven pan  add the cans of soup and 2 of the pkgs of onion soup mix, stir it all together  and spread the rice  over the entire bottom of the pan

Take your chicken pieces in push them half way down into the rice. Take the last 2 pkgs of the onion soup mix and pour into a bowl to make sure that it spice is all broken up, sometimes it cakes. Sprinkle the mix over the top of the chicken pieces and the rice . Cover the pan with foil, place in your preheated oven, pour another ice tea or lemonade and let the chicken cook for about 45mins  remove the foil and let the top of the chicken brown a little about 15 mins. Remove from the oven, let stand to cool for about 10 – 15 mins While the chicken cools cook your peas when there done, serve it up.